LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Church as the Expression of Christ
"And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:22).
As you know very well now, in the Roman prison, Paul received a vision. He saw something in his spirit. And then he wrote down what he had seen. Then we discover that after Christ ascended to heaven, he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. So we see here the head and feet of Christ. Then we ask one question: where is the body of Christ? Then we are reminded that the church is his body.
Our Lord ascended to heaven, and you discover that the church is also found there. Out of his birth pain, the water and blood flowed from his side. He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. So through his work, his crucifixion, through his resurrection and ascension, the church was born. The church was born from above, and that's the heavenly position of the church.
However, that body of Christ ought to be on this planet, because when the Word became flesh, God had prepared a body for our Lord through Mary. With that body, our Lord was able to die for us on the cross; with that body, we know that humility became flesh; that love became flesh. Love used to be very abstract, but when the Lord died on the cross we find that this speaks of what love really is. So that's why our Lord Jesus said, behold I have come to do thy will O God. But remember, when our Lord was on earth, according to Luke, our Lord began to do and teach, so after his ascension, he continued to do and teach.
Thank God, because the church was born from above; it is the body of Christ. Now with this body, our Lord is able to say, behold I have come to do thy will O God. Because of that, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. When the angels are watching, they are learning something. Through this body, the will of God can be carried out.
The church is in a heavenly position, but the church also has to be on this planet. For that reason, the Holy Spirit was poured out after the Lord's ascension. Now from that day of Pentecost onward, God the Holy Spirit dwelt on this earth, and brought the church down to the earth. What happened? It's very clear; on the day of Pentecost, there was a congregation of 120 people in the upper room. This was indeed a wonderful congregation of saints, but then, according to First Corinthians, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on that day, the Holy Spirit baptized these 120 people into one body. Those 120 saints became 120 members of the body of Christ. We all know that on the day of Pentecost, the church was born, and from that time on, Jesus continued to do and teach through this mysterious body of Christ. That's why we have the book of Acts. Thank the Lord, that's the vision that Paul saw in the Roman prison.
Strictly speaking however, that was not the first time that Paul had a vision of Christ and His church. You remember that on the way to Damascus, Paul met the risen Lord. He met Christ and for the first time he knew what the glory of God was. His condition was just like that which is described in Genesis 1; on his way to Damascus, God said "Let there be light." There you discover that the light of gospel truth shone upon Paul. For the first time, Paul discovered that God's glory was in the face of Christ. He had a vision of Christ. Then our Lord said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Now that's a very strange question. Paul was persecuting the followers of Jesus, and the One he met was the Risen Lord, the Heavenly Christ. If Christ was in heaven and Paul was on earth, how was he able to be persecuting Christ? Paul became puzzled. "I don't understand. I know I am persecuting the followers of Jesus, but it is impossible for me to persecute someone in the heavenly places."
This vision is a heavenly vision; a heavenly dream. So he dreamt of Christ; he met Christ and later said, "It pleased the Father… to reveal his Son in me." So on his way to Damascus, God revealed His secret, and Paul was face to face with Christ. But now there was a question he could not understand, "why are you persecuting me?" Paul asks, "Who are you Lord?" So our Lord answers, "I am Jesus who you are persecuting." What does that mean? On the way to Damascus, Paul knew that he was persecuting the church, when he recalled what happened in the past, he said so himself. But Jesus said "You are persecuting me." What does persecuting mean? When you hit my body you are hitting me. Why? Because the head and the body have the same condition; they are one, they have the same future and they have the same fate. When Paul thought that he was persecuting the church our Lord Jesus said, "You are persecuting me."
The head is in heaven but his body is on the earth. So it is most likely that on the way to Damascus, Paul not only had a vision of Christ, but also of the church. This was not something new when Paul wrote Ephesians because of that vision on the road to Damascus.
Vision and the cross are a vocation
We may all be dreamers; you may dream wonderful dreams, but the question is this: Is your dream going to be realized? You might dream of becoming president, but the problem is this; how can that dream be realized?
In the Old Testament, Joseph was a dreamer. You remember his dream: eleven sheaves came to him, bowed down and worshipped him. What did that mean? One day Joseph would be in glory. That was his dream, and that's why his brothers were not at all happy. When he tried to visit his brothers, they said, "here comes the dreamer." Now brothers, that dreamer is different from you and I. Our dream may not be realized. But thank God, Joseph's dream was realized. One day Joseph was on the throne, he became prime minister; when there was a famine everywhere, it was Joseph who opened the granaries.
That dreamer is different because that dream would be realized. He had four sets of dreams. How would they be realized? In Joseph's life there were four garments. The first garment was a colored garment given to him by his father and the second garment was after he was betrayed by his brothers, when they put animal's blood on that garment. When his father saw that blood, he knew that his son had been torn to pieces. Joseph was betrayed and sold into slavery. He became a slave, and then the housewife tried to seduce Joseph. Now brothers, he was one who feared the Lord, and finally he threw his garment down before the housewife and that became evidence of his sin. Actually he was innocent. Then he was not only a slave in Egypt, but was finally placed in prison. Finally, when Joseph became prime minister, the bible mentions another garment which speaks of his glory.
So brothers, the way that our dream may be realized is through the four garments. Only through the path of the cross will we finally be brought into glory. No cross means no crown. So brothers, are we going to dream a dream? Do we dream of Christ and His church? That dream will cost your life and mine, because Joseph's dream caused him to walk the way of the cross. But finally, his dream was realized.
Vision is very important. Our vision speaks of our dream. But remember, many people are only dreamers, and their dreams are never realized. Now we need to have dreams, we need to have vision, but vision in itself is not enough; only vision with the working of the cross will finally turn a vision into vocation.
Now you understand, brothers, that almost twenty years later, when Paul was in prison, that chain was the secret to realizing his dream. Paul had seen a wonderful vision twenty years ago, maybe even twenty five years ago. Now thank God for that vision, because it governed Paul's entire life, and that's why he said, "I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision." That vision governed his life. So why were the prison and the chains necessary? Through those chains and more than twenty years of the Holy Spirit's working, he learnt a secret: If you alone have a vision, you alone live according to that vision, but you can never share your vision with others, then you will be the most unique person in the universe. But brothers, that vision ought to be for every one of us. In order for others to share the same vision, we need those chains; we need the working of the Holy Spirit through the cross.
The Holy Spirit always leads you to Calvary but Calvary always leads you to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit leads us to the cross, and the cross will lead us back to the Holy Spirit. That is how the Lord is working today. For Paul, that vision was received more than twenty years before and he did not prove disobedient to that heavenly light. However, in order to share that vision with every one of us, he needed the Word of God. It took the Word of God to fix that light and to interpret that light. Not only Paul had to be able to understand, the whole church of God had to be able to understand. So this vision was not only limited to a handful of people. Sometimes you have vision but don't have the Word. In that case it's no wonder that only a handful go on while the rest of the brothers and sisters just blindly follow. That's not God's will; we all ought to share our vision with all the brothers and sisters. How? You need the Word of God.
When Paul was in prison, after twenty years of discipline from the Lord he compiled some words together; the Holy Spirit began to transform logos into rhema. From that prison, he was able to tell the whole church what the way of the church should be. It is not Judaism, because if you follow the Jewish pattern, it will either follow the temple model or the synagogue model. With the temple model, you will end up with priests and that's what happened to the church in the Dark Age. But more than that, if you follow the synagogue model, then we become divided; and that's what's happened today. For that reason, God could not wait any longer. When Paul was waiting for seven days in the temple, God couldn't be silent any longer. God had to correct Paul.
Thank the Lord, while he was in prison, while he was in chains, he was in the presence of the Lord, and the same light came back to him. But that light became much brighter as we see from the four books which explain that light, especially concerning the church as the body of Christ. Now brothers, when you read these letters, you not only see the light, you also see the fullness of light. This is not only a dream, it is a dream that can be realized. If that dream was realized with Paul, that dream ought to be realized with you and me as well.
Thank God that we are just like Joseph; we have dreams that one day we will be conformed into the image of Christ; this is a dream of glory, but how can we reach it? When we are in our flesh and we love the world, how can the beauty and glory of Christ be manifested? The cross has to do its work. God must remove all the hindrances; our flesh, our sin, the world and Satan which prevent us from going on toward maturity. So for that reason, my brothers and sisters, now we can understand that because Paul wrote Ephesians and spoke of the church as His body, thank God, we have the fullness of that revelation. So as we begin to study this letter again, we begin to see this wonderful light more clearly.
In chapter 2 you discover that whilst in chapter 1 the church was in the heavenly places - the church was born from above, - on the day of Pentecost, that body was manifested on the earth. The Holy Spirit baptized a hundred and twenty people into the one body of Christ and turned them into a hundred and twenty members of the body of Christ.
What is the body of Christ? In chapter 2, Paul tried to emphasize two aspects of the body of Christ. Now we must remember that the church is the new wineskin; a new vessel for the new wine. You can no longer follow tradition and so if you want to find the way for the church, Paul has pointed that way out to us.
The church expresses the New Man on the earth
So when you come to chapter 2 you are actually occupied with two main thoughts. Because I don't have much time left, I will just mention these two aspects. The first is from verse 14: "For he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and has broken down the barrier of the dividing wall." Here Paul talks about two groups; he was referring to the gentiles and the Jews. Here are two groups, but you don't find the Gentiles and the Jews in the heavenly places; you only find them on the earth. So brothers and sisters, the body of Christ is on this earth.
Then verse 15: "By abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace." Now something very interesting here is that we have a phrase: one new man. Now what is the church? The church is the body of Christ. But what is the body of Christ? The Holy spirit continued to explain and actually when you see the body of Christ, you see one new man. Why the body of Christ? Because this is Christ's body; Christ is a person, Christ has a personality. Today, when they meet the body of Christ, strictly speaking, the most important thing is that the invisible personality of Christ may be seen through the motion of the body of Christ.
Let me give you one example, suppose we listen to a great pianist. When she plays the piano, her fingers hit those keys and her eyes read the corresponding notes simultaneously. Here you find her body playing the piano, but at the same time, her eyes are fixed upon the music. So as she plays the piano, we see that her body is trying to manifest the fullness of the personality of her music. That's what we'd call a musician.
On one occasion, a boy was playing a violin, and Einstein was present. At the end he greeted the boy and said, "Dear boy, through your performance, I could see the existence of God." Do you see that? Here you find a personality and you can know how gifted that personality is. So suppose that personality has no body. You know the personality is there, the fullness and the beauty of it and how gifted that personality is, but it is all in his mind, everything is hidden behind the body. So brothers, we can only see that personality when that body starts to move.
When our Lord was on earth, he walked from one place to another. When he died on the cross for us, you know there was blood everywhere, and with that body we begin to see that God is love. We remember how he prayed on the cross. Through that body which God gave him, we are able to see that that invisible personality is made visible. Brothers and sisters, that's the mission of the church today. When that body of Christ moves on this planet, in this part of the world, what the world must see is not the church but Christ. Why does the bible say our body ought to be covered? So that people only see the head. So remember, what is the testimony of the church? It is that Christ be seen by the world. So brothers, when people see Christ and not the body, it is because the body is under a covering, so that Christ and Christ alone will be seen by the world.
Brothers, when we gather together, you must ask one question; if an unbeliever came into the meeting, what would they see? A group of Chileans or a group of Chinese because of their culture or background? No brothers, when we gather together, each person is to hide himself in Christ and only the head is to be seen. More than that, people will see a personality, people will see the beauty and glory of Christ. Now you understand why we ought to be mature in the Lord; each one of us must reach sonship. Sonship is our goal. So brothers and sisters don't worry too much about how we should gather together; if it is the body of Christ, it is an organism, it is not an organization. Thank the Lord, we don't have to worry, because if we are mature in the Lord and grow in Him, somehow the Lord will be working in our life.
Let me try to explain what the church is. The church is one new man. In the church you don't see Jews or Gentiles, Brazilians or Chileans: that's one new man! Do you see that? This personality is not represented by a culture; it only represents Christ. So brothers, what do you want to show the world? What is the church? It is one new man. When the personality of Christ is seen in this world, the church will function as a new man. That's very important. That's why the body of Christ exists. Through the motion of his body, the personality of Christ must be manifested.
The nature and character of Christ
Now, how and when should the personality of Christ be manifest? Let me explain; when you received Christ as your Savior, each one of us received the life of Christ. We all know that. But now, if the life of Christ is in us, that life has a nature; we call it the nature of Christ. In that nature, you have the love of Christ, the patience of Christ and the humility of Christ. So after you are saved, as long as the life of Christ is in you, from time to time, you manifest a wonderful nature. Sometimes we are impatient, but thank God, -because you have wonderful fellowship with the Lord- the life of Christ will actually flow out of you. Now that life has nature; sometimes humility and sometimes patience. Thank God, after we are saved, this is our testimony; we are completely changed. Do you see that? Because we are now partakers in the divine nature of God.
What is nature? You have a group of chickens here, and ducks over there. So they all have their own nature, a chicken is a chicken and a duck is a duck. But how will we know the difference between them? You drive them all beside the water. Then all the ducks, when they see the water they just enter in without teaching them anything. Then the chickens become very chicken - that's the nature of a chicken - when they meet the water, they don't want to get in whereas the ducks just get straight in. It is so natural for them. After you are saved, people may see the patience of Christ in you, especially your husband. Then the wife discovers the humility of Christ in her husband. It's so natural. After you are saved, because the life of Christ is in you, eventually you live out that life, naturally and spontaneously, without effort or force. It's very natural. We call this the nature of Christ.
But then brothers, you encounter problems. Even though you have the nature of Christ; from time to time manifesting the patience of Christ, or the wonderful humility of Christ, then you begin to have problems. Your problem is this: this only happens from time to time. This does not happen everyday. You wish the patience of Christ would come to you everyday, but it doesn't. Sometimes you have a volcano within you, even though you don't live in Villarica. Sometimes you find a tidal wave in your family, even though you don't live in Tolten. Even though you love the Lord, you just cannot help yourself. You wish that you had that patience of Christ everyday. But the patience of Christ comes and goes, the humility of Christ comes and goes. So you pray, "Lord, please stay, may your patience stay all the time." Now brothers, the Holy Spirit is going to work even more. He starts with the nature of Christ, but now wants to transform the nature of Christ into the character of Christ.
The character of Christ is formed when the Holy Spirit transforms the patience of Christ into our character. In other words, that patience of Christ will stay with us all the time. Do you see that? When we say "character", it means a special characteristic. I had a student who had a beard and always had a comb in his hand. I thought he must have it to comb his hair with; no, he was combing his beard; that's character. Every time you saw him, he was combing his beard. So brothers, remember, if the patience of Christ becomes your character, every time people meet you, they will always see the patience of Christ. This becomes your characteristic.
Let me tell you a true story. The founder of China Inland Mission was a great man of God. So many people asked the missionaries who knew Hudson Taylor well, "Please tell us, when you meet Hudson Taylor, in which respect does he remind you of our Lord?" The missionaries responded by saying that one of Hudson Taylor's characteristics was this: he was a busy man, his time was almost like gold because in the China Inland Mission they had almost 1,000 missionaries. He was one of the busiest men on the earth. They said, "whenever you talk to Hudson Taylor, one thing that really reminds you of our Lord is that every time he talks to you, it is as if your problem is the most important matter. It was as though he were someone with nothing to do. He wanted to do everything for you. Some important men, when they talk to you always look at their watch, to remind you they are very busy, but Hudson Taylor never looked at his watch." So brothers and sisters, every time missionaries came to Hudson Taylor, that was what really impressed them. What does that mean? Some characteristic of Christ had been wrought into the life of Hudson Taylor.
When I was in Santiago, I stayed with a family, and in that family, there was a lovely girl. And we were told she had a wonderful skill. Now suppose you have made some pottery, and you want to put a design on it; the problem is that although it is a beautiful design, if you use too much force on top of the pottery, you will destroy it. It is very easy to make that mistake. But our sister had a skill. After she made the pottery, she then put a design on it, and put it through a furnace. Afterwards the picture was engraved in that piece of pottery and couldn't be removed. This is an illustration of the character of Christ being wrought into us.
How will the nature of Christ become the character of Christ? First, you have to give the Lord your time. You have to consecrate yourself; you have to present yourself as a living sacrifice. Patiently allow the Lord to work with you; give Him your time so that the Lord can work in your life. Sometimes it takes three years, sometimes it takes ten years; we don't know. But ask yourself; is your time in the hands of the Lord? Do you allow Him to work in your life? Second, it takes the working of the cross: only when that pottery passes through fire will the image remain forever and the beauty always be there. So brothers, in this way, the character of Christ becomes your character. So when people meet you again, they see the beauty and the glory of Christ.
But don't forget, throughout all your life, you will only have some characteristics, because it is impossible to have them all. It will take your whole life for the patience or humility of Christ to be wrought into you. You ought to be thankful. Now, what does that mean? You are not perfect, but rather, it will only be in patience or humility that you will remind people of the Lord. In another aspect, you are not perfect. But my brothers and sisters, each one of you has to go through fire and the working of the cross. That's why tidal waves and volcanoes are good.
Your husband is the best husband, designed one hundred percent for you, and your wife, one hundred percent designed for you. With that family, sometimes we go through fire, but thank the Lord, in this way we are being conformed into the image of Christ.
Brothers, now you see how important the character of Christ is! Do you have that character in you? Do you have that nature in you? Now you have to allow the working of the cross to work deeply in your life. Thank the Lord, He has placed people in our lives - maybe your husband, wife or children - to make you happy, but they also make you suffer. So brothers, thank the Lord that because of this fire, we are matured.
Do you know how Jacob passed from being a worm to a butterfly? Do you know how he was matured? God used four wives and eleven sons and daughters. Thank God that we have only one! Jacob had four! Now you can see how many volcanoes there were in that family. Not only wives, but also children; each child is a volcano. More than that, when you come to the meeting, you love all your brothers, you hug and kiss your brothers. You are in the honeymoon period; but just you wait - after the honeymoon is over, then you will know what kind of suffering you will go through in the church. But thank God, you will never leave them because they are part of your family.
I remember a story of two people in love. The girl talked, and the boy listened. After they got married, on their honeymoon, the boy talked and the girl listened. How beautiful this is. But after the honeymoon, both of them talked, and their neighbors listened!
So brothers, sometimes we say "I dream of the body of Christ," but you don't know what type of a dream you will have. God will arrange all kinds of brothers and sisters; some of them are lovely, some of them are not, but you must love them. In this way, the patience of Christ and the humility of Christ will be formed in you. For that reason, Paul said he had to go through a birth pain. That's what the Holy Spirit is doing today.
The church as the expression of Christ's personality
So brothers, thank God for the wonderful vision of Christ and His body. The church of God must manifest the personality of Christ. Now where do you find that personality? The secret is this; when you put all of the characteristics of Christ together, when you sum up all Christ's characteristics, in different aspects, humility in one person, patience in another, then when we all come together, the total sum of all the different aspects of the character of Christ makes up the personality of Christ. What is your personality? You put your characteristics together; you have different aspects of your character and when you sum them all up, this is your personality.
The personality of Christ is the image of Christ. So when we say we are transformed into the image of Christ, what does that mean? The world will see the personality of Christ. When we say we are transformed into the image of Christ, you need the whole body of Christ to accomplish that. People see something in you, something in him, some of Christ in them. But don't forget, only when the church is gathered together will the world see patience in them, humility in them, and in this way they will see the beauty of Christ: the personality of Christ. Thank God, through the church we are being transformed into the image of Christ.
Now you understand what the error of mysticism in the church history was. These mystics in the church knew that they ought to be transformed into the image of Christ, but they thought that each one of them was able to reach there. But they never reached there. But thank the Lord, some aspects of the character of Christ could be seen in them. Their error however was to hide themselves in monasteries. They were far from mankind and never saw the church. They dreamed a dream that could never be realized.
What is a saint? It is someone who is being transformed into the image of Christ. So according to tradition, Saint Francisco was so holy that one day you could even see the blood on his hands. Even in his side, they say, you could see blood. So we say that this saint was being transformed into the image of Christ. This is not transformation according to the bible. For that reason, no-one should become individualistic; every one of us should be humble. None of us are indispensable. The reason is very simple; you will never reach there. It takes the whole church of Christ to reach there.
That's why you need your brother and your sister; so that we might be transformed into the image of Christ. You can therefore understand why our Lord will be the firstborn among many brethren. When the world sees that personality, it will be clear that He is the head of the church. He is the firstborn and will bring many sons to glory. When we are being transformed into the image of Christ, we are being transformed into the glorified church, holy and without blemish. Brothers and sisters, do you see these wonderful aspects?
That's why the bible talks about one new man. You have a new personality. Everything is new in the new creation. This does not represent Jewish culture, nor that of the Gentiles, nor Chileans nor Brazilians. So what will you see brothers? When the body moves in this part of the world, the world will not say this is another movement. No! They will say we have seen Christ; we have seen Christ's personality in our midst.
For that reason, the sonship and Lordship are correlated. When we are all mature in Christ, thank God, in some way the character of Christ is being formed in us when we gather together. This is the testimony to the world: "This is not just a congregation, this is not just a time to come together to be happy." - Thanks be to the Lord, we are often joyous, but this is just a small aspect-. If you really dream of the body of Christ, now brothers remember, it takes a long time for the dream to come true.
Through the cross we are transformed into the image of Christ
Now brothers, there is something very interesting; if you study the history of Joseph, God did something in his life. Joseph became a type of Christ. In Old Testament times, if God wanted to take someone as a type, then what was He doing? God was arranging the life of that person so that they would become a type of Christ. Therefore, even though Christ had to be born 2,000 years ago, and Joseph came much earlier than Him, God arranged Joseph's life according to the pattern of Christ's life. Now because Christ had the cross first, then the crown, it was the same for Joseph. That's why Joseph had to be sold; he had to be rejected, even though he was the delight of his father, just as Christ was the delight of His Heavenly Father. He came to his own, yet he was rejected; he was sold.
Joseph lived his life, not according to himself, but according to Christ because Christ suffered first, then had glory. First humiliation, then ascension. First the cross, then the crown. Because of that, one day Joseph became a type of Christ. He no longer lived his own life. There is a pattern there, there is a model there. Even though Joseph lived 1,000 years earlier, thank God, when God arranged his life, it was always according to the pattern of Christ.
Remember that when he was in prison there were two criminals with him, and one was saved, and one perished. You know the story of when our Lord was on the cross; it was the same. There were two thieves beside him, and one was saved and the other perished. Our Lord had no sin. When Joseph was in prison, you know he was innocent even though he was among the criminals. It is therefore clear that Joseph's life was created according to the life of Christ. No wonder that among the characters of the bible, Joseph was the one who was most like Christ. Actually, he is the closest type of Christ in the whole bible, because even in the smallest details, he reminds you of Him.
Now you understand Joseph's dreams; one day he would be in glory. That means he was supposed to live a life just like our Lord Jesus. One day, when he was on the throne, in his time, he had almost been transformed into the image of Christ. So brothers and sisters, what is our dream? Our dream is that one day we will be transformed into the image of Christ. The secret to realizing that dream is that the four dreams required four garments. Eventually Joseph truly reached his goal.
With that illustration, brothers and sisters, when we come back to Ephesians, yes we are dreamers. However, our dream must come true. The way in which one day that dream will come to be realized is through the working of the cross, which will deal with our life. So brothers, now you know that when the church is matured, the world will see the personality of Christ. In other words, we are being transformed into his image; Christ, and only Christ, being seen by the world. This is the testimony of the church.
It is shameful for the world only to see the church, without Christ. This is always the danger; we always try to promote ourselves, we always try to promote the church. Those people don't see Christ any more.
They see that there are wonderful people, they see a wonderful movement. But where is Christ?
I remember that one brother wrote a book, "considering the wineskins". Then one day, some brother asked an elderly brother - a very experienced individual in the ways of the Lord- , What he thought about this book, which spoke of the church; the body of Christ. Then our brother just made one statement; "Yes, I did see wineskins, but where is the new wine?" So brothers and sisters, this ought to be our question all the time. Sometimes we are so occupied with the wineskins. We have forgotten that the body is only a vessel; that the personality of Christ must be seen by this world. Our body ought to be covered, but when we expose our body, it is shameful. Now brothers, why must the body be covered? Because only the head should be seen.
Like Ruth in Boaz's fields
Brothers and sisters, our time has gone. Actually there are two main points in this chapter. I wanted to cover both points, but we have no time to cover the other point. Yet it is a very simple one. Verse 19 says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household having been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building is being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord." Now what is the body of Christ? It is a holy temple of the Lord; being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Verse 22: "In whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
What is the body of Christ? It is the dwelling place of the Father. We have no time left to go through the bible, but this is another crucial aspect about the body of Christ. In the Old Testament we have the temple of God, but that is only the shadow. The reality is the body of Christ. Now I'm sorry our time has gone; we must stop here. But we trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to speak to us.
My prayer is this; that the Lord may speak to every one of us through this wonderful letter to the Ephesians. As you will note, we did not conclude this letter. Even though we had ambitions to go through the whole of it, we are actually just beginning.
You know how rich the Word of God is; we will never exhaust it. So we are just like Ruth, in the field of our Boaz. We can gleam but a little here and a little there, yet even with these gleamings, we are satisfied, just like Ruth. So may the Lord continue to speak to us.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord we thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity, to be sitting at your feet with all the brothers and sisters. What a golden week it has been. You really spoke to each and every one of us. We pray that this week will be a very special week in our life, and that you will do a great work in our midst for your testimony. Dear Lord, speak to our hearts in a very living and powerful way. May your kingdom come, may your will be done on the earth as it is in heaven. May your heart be satisfied. In the name of our Lord Jesus we pray, Amen.